Identify the release you are accepting
A launch handover should describe the version now serving visitors, not merely the design approved before deployment. Record the launch time, production domain, changed templates and any URL changes. Ask the delivery team to distinguish work that shipped from work still scheduled, and retain the agreed scope beside this release record.
Collect links to the URL inventory, relevant redirect mapping, verification results and known-issue list. Keep credentials out of the handover document. The receiving team should know who controls hosting, content and Search Console, and how to request a correction without depending on an individual developer remembering the launch.
Match evidence to the production site
Choose important journeys and template variations from the agreed scope, including each supported language. Open the production URLs and compare their current content and behavior with the delivery evidence. Record when and where checks were performed. Screenshots from a staging host do not establish the state of the released site.
If URLs changed, sample the old-to-new mapping as well as the new destinations. Confirm that internal navigation reaches the intended pages and that the sitemap points to the intended public URLs. A handover review can uncover exceptions, but a small sample must not be described as exhaustive verification of a large migration.
Separate launch delivery from Google processing
Google recommends monitoring user and crawler activity after a move, including unexpected HTTP errors on old and new URLs. Assign that monitoring explicitly instead of assuming it ends when the deployment is accepted. Search Console observations and relevant server evidence can help distinguish a current delivery issue from changes still being processed by Google.
A sitemap helps discovery but does not guarantee indexing. Keep deployed, submitted and indexed as distinct observations, each with its own evidence and date. The receiving team can accept a delivered technical change while retaining a follow-up task for search monitoring, provided no agreed launch requirement remains unresolved.
Illustrative handover with a remaining exception
Imagine a fictional bilingual services website whose redesign changes several service URLs. The launch package includes the release reference, URL mapping and test results. During receipt, the agency discovers that an old Arabic service link reaches the English destination, although the intended Arabic page exists. It records the affected pair and assigns the correction.
The handover decision names that exception instead of marking every language path complete. The remaining reviewed evidence is retained, and the team defines who will retest the corrected pair and observe search processing afterward. This example illustrates acceptance with visible exceptions, not a complete redirect implementation guide or a promise of stable rankings.
Finish with an owned follow-up record
For each unresolved item, record impact, owner, next action and review date. State whether it prevents acceptance under the agreed scope or is an explicitly accepted follow-up. If acceptance is conditional, write the condition in the handover summary so the client does not mistake a successful deployment for completion of every obligation.
Before closing the meeting, ask the receiving person to locate one production check and one open issue without assistance. Agree where new observations will be recorded and who handles an urgent regression. Your next SEO review should build on this handover baseline, preserving the difference between delivered work, remaining defects and later search performance.